Dog Training 101
by Sehrezad
Summary: Just a little glimpse at how federal agents deal with… dog training. [Warning: established Zibbs and Fornell/Borin]


**Dog Training 1.1**

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything… not even my Grey, she owns me. :)_

_Summary: Just a little glimpse at how federal agents deal with… dog training. [Warning: established Zibbs and Fornell/Borin]_

_This is a belated birthday gift for Zivacentric. I didn't forget about you, my friend. ;) I hope you had a wonderful birthday and maybe this little fic will add another good memory to it. Happy birthday, barátom!_

_Enjoy!_

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"All right," Abby said as she pulled the hand brake of her truck. "You're ready for this?" she turned to Tobias with a raised eyebrow.

"I guess," he shrugged for all intents and purposed looking indifferent. "It's as good a pastime as any. And, after all, we have a responsibility now, right?" he asked looking down at the tiny bundle in his lap.

"You are so excited about this," Abby grinned, poking the man in the shoulder.

"Not at all," he denied then stopped. "Maybe… All right, yes, I'm really excited," he admitted finally and gave a self-conscious smile to the woman.

"Let's go then," she said and, after pecking him on the lips, she left the car.

"You heard the lady, Lucy," he turned to the tiny dog lying smugly in his lap. "Let's go." The Chinese Crested whined a little but otherwise didn't protest when Tobias lifted her and they left the car.

"I didn't expect so many people to be here," he observed looking around while walking up to Abby, who was by the trunk, putting the leash on her Caucasian Shepherd mix.

"Well, it's a nice day and I'm sure many people find spending time with their dogs a great pastime, right?" she addressed the last part to Chewie, who replied with a slobbery kiss. "And anyway," she continued as the huge dog jumped to the ground, "I'm quite certain that dog training is fun."

"I know, right?" Tobias beamed at her, looking around him with an excited look, noting the two large fenced in areas that were at the moment empty. Abby's merry laughter could be heard even through the noise of the crowd of men and dogs.

"Right," she agreed. "Come on, boy," she called to her dog. "Let's find the others." It didn't take long for them to spot their friends a little farther away, standing in the shadow of a tree but it took a considerably longer time to get to them. While most of the smaller dog – and their owners – avoided Abby and Chewie, there were a couple of others that were happy to get familiar with the large shepherd dog. There was a dash-hound in particular who quickly decided that Chewie would be his new best friend. He was really cute as he tried to get the larger dog's attention, who first looked quite taken aback by the little creature but he warmed up to him and, lying down, he even let him pull on his ears. Yep, they were definitely cute.

When the play was over, the couple continued their way to their friends. Tobias tried to put down Lucy to have her walk a little but the tiny dog all but climbed back up into his arms. She seemed content just to observe the large commotion from her perch on her owner's shoulder.

"What on Earth is that, Tobias?" Gibbs ask at his friends with a frown as soon as he caught sight of the man cradling something in his arms. "You said you're having a dog."

"Shut up, Jethro," the man growled in a low voice while protectively tightening his hold on the tiny dog, who was now staring with frightened eyes.

He and Abby decided to adopt a dog after they had met the two Greyhounds Ziva and Gibbs had adopted from a Greyhound Rescue a couple of months earlier. They went to a kennel and it didn't take them long to fall in love with Chewie who stood out from the other dogs not only by his sheer size but by his reserved nature… and it didn't take long for Lucy to fall in love with the strange man. The rest was history…

"Don't mind him," Ziva said dismissively, stepping up to Tobias with a huge smile. "It's really cute, yes. Aren't you a cutie?" she cooed to the tiny dog that seemed to warm up to the Israeli woman quickly. Gibbs and Abby scoffed in the background while their eyes were on Chewie and Radar who were getting familiar by their masters' legs. "Isn't she a cutie, Amir?" Ziva turned to her Saluki that, for the moment, was patiently sitting next to her, sniffing the strange creature's rear part which made the other dog climb higher on her new master's chest.

"Thank you, Ziva," Tobias told her while trying to prevent the dog climbing on his neck. "She's a little shy," he explained with a chuckle, readjusting his hold on the dog.

"I can see that," Ziva smiled. "What's her name?"

"Lucy."

"Oh, I love her," Ziva cried. Gibbs wondered what was it with people and small dogs that made his normally calm and collected girlfriend turn into a squealing schoolgirl. "May I?" she asked, looping Amir's leash around her wrist and reaching for Lucy. Tobias gave her to the Israeli woman, who cradled her carefully then crouch down and smiled up at her Saluki. "Look at that, Amir," she said as the dog eyed the small creature. Ziva noticed his changed stance – legs apart, tail waggling and ears standing at attention – and knew that he was ready to play. Unfortunately, he wasn't a nice player, especially with smaller dogs. "Amir, sit," she instructed, then added, "Careful. She is a little thing, you don't have to scare her." By the time she finished the sentence, Amir was standing again. "I said sit," Ziva commanded and Amir begrudgingly obeyed. "Good boy," she smiled when Amir seemed to understand that there wouldn't be running around with the tiny dog. When he calmed down, Lucy visibly relaxed, too, and she ventured to press her tiny nose to the larger one of the Saluki. "Look at that," Ziva said. "She is actually a friendly one."

"You should see her with Chewie," Abby snorted. "She is definitely the boss."

"Sure she is," Gibbs smirked, totally amused by the smitten look on Tobias' face. It wasn't only Chewie who was being bossed around, the man was totally whipped.

"Hey, Jethro," a man walked up to them and shook hands with the agent. "You ready to be trained?" he asked with a laugh that was shared by Ziva, too.

"Very funny, Cooper."

"Don't worry about it. We're here to learn how to not let the dogs tell us what to do."

"He's a stubborn one then, huh?" Abby smirked, referring to Gibbs' English Greyhound.

"Most of them are," Copper agreed. "Hello, boy," he turned his attention to Chewie. "Who are you?"

"Name's Chewie," Abby supplied as the man petted the dog's head then proceeded to do the same with Radar when the Grey practically pressed his head under his hand, pushing Chewie out of the way.

"Cooper, this is Abby… and the man with the whipped look is Tobias. He'll be a difficult case."

"Welcome," he smiled at the couple. "If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. Every canine is a special case, we are here to learn them."

"This one's a special case indeed," Tobias said taking Lucy back from Ziva. "She's rather shy. Do you think it is a good idea to overwhelm her?"

Cooper eyed the small dog for a moment then replied, "She'll be all right. She is not scared out of her mind, that's a good thing. She'll get used to the crowd. You can start with the pups. Let her warm up to the others a little. When she feels relaxed enough, you can join the adults next week."

"That's okay," Tobias nodded. "What do you say, sweetie, going to the pups?"

"Have you registered yet?" he asked then continued when the pair shook their heads. "Never mind, you can do that after class. We're just about to start." And with that he turned and left. "All right people," he hollered, entering the larger one of the fenced in areas where the class would take place. "Let's get started! Puppies to the small area," he indicated the neighboring smaller section. "Dennis!" he called to an older man with a medium mix. "You can bring Marty over to the adults now. He's old enough. And you, too, Charlotte. Tipper's getting too big for the kids," he laughed as the woman turned and exited the smaller area with her Mastiff.

"Have fun with the kids," Abby smiled at Tobias before they parted.

"All right," Cooper turned to the large group that gathered around him. "I think there is enough of us to split up in three. Advanced level goes with Mike," he indicated a small sturdy man by the gate of the training area, "and immediate level goes with Annie there. The rest is with me."

The group started to split up and those who stayed with Cooper, lined up next to the fence between their training area and the pup's area.

_Sit!_ Could be heard all around in the group and quickly every canine was sitting patiently by their masters' legs, looking up at them – well, mostly –, waiting for further instructions. Every canine, except for one – Radar was standing in front of Gibbs, by all intents and purposes looking like someone ready to play.

Gibbs was not impressed, especially when he could hear Ziva chuckle next to him and could practically see Abby's smug smile when her new dog slapped his rear to the ground at first command.

"Sit!" he told the dog in a tone that would have made a whole squadron of marines sit on their asses… but not Radar. By the way Radar was standing in front of Gibbs with tail waggling and tongue slapping, it was obvious that the dog was really excited over spending time with his master but he'd be damned if he'd stay in one place when it was play-time. "Radar, sit!"

"Jethro," the trainer walked up to them when he noticed that they were having some problems, "try to guide Radar next to you and you can use your hand to push his butt a little." He waited for the ex-marine to do as he was told and when he was done and Radar was sitting next to his master, he nodded satisfied. But he had hardly opened his mouth to tell the first exercise when the Saluki on Ziva's side decided that he'd sat enough and lay down.

"Ziva," Cooper called to her. "You remember what I said about that?"

"Yes, I do," she hissed to herself. "But I cannot really help that he likes lying better."

"That doesn't matter. He was told to sit so he has to sit."

Ziva rolled her eyes then turned to Amir. "Amir, sit!" The dog didn't even budge. "Sit!" He settled in a little bit more comfortable on the green grass.

"All right, until Ziva manages to sit Amir up, we do a little walking and sitting. Let's start, people. Three steps then sit. You can turn around in my line," he told everybody, stretching his arms wide. And when everybody, except for Ziva started to walk, Radar lay down. Gibbs groaned. Ziva chuckled. It seemed that the Greys had a completely other idea about training than the other dogs.

By the time everybody returned to the starting line, Ziva and Gibbs managed to make the dogs sit but had a difficult time keeping them that way.

"Look, who's sitting?" Tobias appeared by the fence with a smug grin.

"At least mine can walk," Gibbs sneered. "Yours seemed more like jumping the whole way over there," Gibbs pointed out. And true enough, Lucy was still trying to get Tobias' attention by jumping on his legs.

"I really enjoy this training thing," Abby stopped in the line with a huge grin and Chewie sitting obediently by her leg. Her three companions rolled their eyes. Tobias finally returned to his group while Gibbs, Ziva and Abby continued with their exercise. They made some more walking and sitting exercises then switched to sitting and staying. By the end of it, the Greys seemed to have warmed up to the idea of training and they could remain sitting for an extended period of time. On the other hand, Chewie seemed to have some trouble with the staying part. He did everything he was told excellently, except for staying away from Abby. Every time he realized that Abby was about to walk away a little, he followed.

"Look at that," it was once again Tobias walking up to the fence while the puppies were let free to play a little during their class. "And she says that I got a lap dog," he laughed, watching as Chewie sat on Abby's lap as soon as the woman crouched down in front of him.

"Poor thing," Ziva said, "He's afraid Abby will leave him."

"Radar did the same for at least a month," Gibbs observed. "Couldn't go to head without him following. Glued to me the whole damn time."

"Don't tell me," Tobias sighed. "Couldn't be with Abby in peace ever since we brought those monsters home… so not good for our relationship," he complained, not even noticing the annoyed disbelief that sat on Gibbs' face. So much more information than needed. Ziva just smiled. But he did notice the little dog appearing by his legs. He bent down and picked her up. "Hey there, sweetie," he cooed to the dog. "You missed daddy, right? Yes, I know…" he continued on as Gibbs shook his head. That was just unbelievable!

"Okay, it's time for lying," Cooper spoke up after exchanging some words with Abby. "It should be easy with the Greys." There were chuckles all around. Gibbs was so not amused.

"Down!" came the order once they lined up once again, and every dog slowly lay down. Ziva and Gibbs looked satisfied at their lying Greys but then Radar turned on his back and began rolling in the grass. Ziva and Gibbs groaned at that in unison, knowing full well what would come next. And true enough, Amir was promptly on his back, too.

"Maybe you should come up with a new set of command words," Tobias suggested by the fence, clearly enjoying the show. "Or just use 'sit'; that worked before."

"Don't you have a dog to train?" it was now Ziva, who snapped.

"Geez, Gibbs's rubbing on you all right" he muttered a little hurt and walked over to Abby.

Ziva and Gibbs finally managed to make the dogs lie and they could go on with the exercises.

After about an hour of training, the group gathered in one of the corners of the training area. By that time the other two groups had already finished the course and they were outside, waiting for the second round to start.

Cooper, however, wanted to practice recall before they'd have wrapped up.

Like with all the other exercises it went better for ones than for others. Chewie, for example, didn't have to be told twice to "come". He was shooting towards Abby as soon as Cooper let go of his collar. There was, however, a German shepherd mix who'd rather stayed behind to play with the other dogs. And there was Tipper, the Mastiff, who took his sweet time to amble over to his owner.

When it was Gibbs' turn to recall Radar, both he and Cooper were surprised when the dog actually started to run towards him. And indeed, he did run up to Gibbs – more like sprinted – and he actually slowed down when getting near but instead of stopping, he got around the man then shot out in a sprint once again.

By that time, Gibbs was getting really tires and impatient so, while the others watched in awe the graceful movements of the running Greyhound, he started shouting for the stray dog to come back.

"Barking orders to the dog wouldn't work," the instructor told him.

"It works just fine," Gibbs replied annoyed, still trying to get Radar's attention.

"Yeah… with Tony and McGee," Abby snickered, exchanging an amused look with Ziva.

"You have to pay attention to your tone. Don't shout; just use a deeper intonation."

Gibbs gave the man a look that said _Yeah, you think?_, then with a shrug turned to the running dog.

"Hey, Radar… Get your sorry ass here! Now!"

"You see?" the instructor smiled when Radar changed course and began running towards Gibbs. "Call to him!"

"Come here, Buddy! That's it…" he said satisfied but in the last instant, Radar turned right and continued his running.

"Stay!" Ziva called to Amir when the Greyhound wanted to join his friend. "Sit! Good boy."

It took a little while but finally Radar trotted up to Gibbs on his own accord. Gibbs sighed annoyed as he put the leash back on the dog – he could have sworn that the damn dog was smiling.

When it was Amir's turn to be recalled, Cooper suggested that Ziva should stand a little closer to the dog, not giving him a chance to break out in a full-fletched sprint. The canine answered Ziva's recalling command beautifully. Gibbs rolled his eyes at her girlfriend's smug look. God, he needed a coffee.

After a little break, everybody gathered once again in the larger field – it was time for a little play which meant that everybody had a chance to try out the obstacle course of agility under the supervision of the trainers.

To everybody's surprise, Lucy proved to be an excellent agility dog. It was clear that she'd never done anything like that before but she was a quick and enthusiastic learner. She was clearly enjoying herself as she was running around… and clearly, Tobias was enjoying himself as well as he learnt how to work together with his dog.

Abby looked on with envy as Tobias was leading his little rat of a dog through the seesaw and the tunnels without interruption then they even managed to take the tire jump, too. She turned back to Chewie with a frown then tried to coax him to walk over the dogwalk. It was all in vain as the large dog didn't show any interest climbing that thing. Abby sighed and led him on towards the jumps. Maybe Chewie would enjoy that, she thought as she passed Gibbs as he was struggling with similar problems. Radar was loathed to climb over the A-frame. She saw when earlier Mike all but threw the dog over the frame.

"You know," she started as she stood in line behind Ziva and Amir, waiting for their turn. "Greyhound is a strange breed," she observed as Radar was again pushed over the frame then promptly petted by Gibbs. "I swear that dog could jump over it without touching that thing."

"Oh, he can," Ziva chuckled. "He just doesn't want to. Come on, Amir, it's our turn." And with that she walked closer to the first jump. Abby watched as Ziva took a second to focus Amir's attention at the task at hand, then they started to trot. The Saluki took the first two jumps with bored ease then he started to gain momentum and jumped over the third and the fourth one, too. By that time Ziva loosened the leash to give room for him to move and before the last one, she let it go altogether. The last jump was beautiful as the Saluki practically flew over the obstacle and Ziva was filled with glee as she slowed, calling for Amir. Amir, however had other plans and, after realizing that he was free, he changed gear and sprinted off. Abby watched amused as a longsuffering look appeared on Ziva's face, then actually laughed out when the dog sprinted past Gibbs and Radar, who were still trying to get used to the A-frame. As Radar caught sight of the running Saluki, he jumped over the frame without a second thought and ran after his friend. Gibbs was caught by surprise and couldn't do anything but watch as the two Greys were running free.

Ziva walked up to him, muttering under her breath in Hebrew.

"Don't worry," Mike told them. "Call to them."

Turning her attention away from her friends, she managed to lead Chewie through the jumps and she actually hugged her fury companion after the last jump. She was so proud of him and her pride was boosted further when Chewie pulled her back to the dogwalk after spying Lucy parading on top. The large dog walked after his little friend with ease when she called out. Abby and Tobias watched amused as the dogs met by the base of the dogwalk and they could have swore that Lucy cheered for her big friend.

"Next time, she brings him for training," Abby observed incredulously.

By the time the two couples walked up to their cars at the end of the training, they were drained. Even the dogs looked tired which was no surprise at all. With the amount of running the two Greys had managed, they shouldn't have even been on their feet. Gibbs definitely felt like collapsing… and his throat felt soar.

"I need a beer," he said to no one in particular.

"I concur," Abby agreed, shutting the trunk. "Your place or ours?"

"Ours," Gibbs and Ziva answered in unison.

"Great, let's go then," Tobias nodded, getting into the car. He found that his hands felt empty without Lucy being there. Suddenly he had half the mind to get her from the back of the car where she was currently curled up next to Chewie but then he thought better of it. He certainly wasn't whipped.

"Well, it was fun," Abby grinned, then she put the gear in reverse and pulled out to follow Gibbs.

"It was," Tobias replied with less enthusiasm than he had started with while he leant back against the headrest and closed his eyes. "And I'm really glad that it's only on the weekends. I'm too old for this."

"Oh, come on, Tobias," she petted his knee. "You enjoyed it," she stated and grinned when the man cracked open an eye then let the corners of his mouth turn upward.

Yes, dog training was definitely fun.

**THE END**

_Thanks for reading! And sorry for the mistakes._


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